Calcite on Copper

Item Description

This is an unusual and very old, historic Michigan specimen. Perched beautifully on a crystallized crust of lustrous, dark brown native copper, is sharp and majestic, lustrous, translucent, ivory-colored calcite crystal. It is 2 inches, or 5 cm tall. This crystal is pristine except for very minor bruising at the termination, acceptable on apiece from the heyday of mining here (1860s-early 1900s). The specimen is further enhanced by the presence of a few, much smaller, yet doubly terminated, calcite crystals on copper below the main crystal. The specimen is accompanied by an old 19th. century German label. The contrast and association of calcite on a copper plate is almost unique to this district, and the stark color contrast of this piece is unusual, even among the specimens produced here in our experience. Usually, the calcite and copper are intermixed, without discrete separation as you see here. Underlaying the copper plate is a small amount of basalt matrix. Also there are tiny analcimes, present if you look with a loupe.